STOCK IS RISING
A non-profit organization has refurbished 64 three- and four-bedroom townhomes for low-income
families.

3

CLARK ABSOLVED
The city dismissed an election finance allegation against Coun.
Peter Clark finding no reasonable
grounds to warrant an audit.

6
Photo by Michelle Nash

Mauril Bélanger celebrated his seventh mandate by singing happy birthday to his wife and promising to work hard for his constituents for
the next four years.

Bélanger calls for a much-needed
post-mortem for Liberal Party of Canada
MICHELLE NASH
michelle.nash@metroland.com

SWING AND MISS
Residents in Overbrook do not approve of the recent report about
the fate of the Ottawa Baseball
Stadium and question city consultants about their process

7

Thinking
of buying
or selling
real estate
this year?

After being handed a seventh consecutive mandate, Mauril Bélanger announced
the Liberal Party of Canada needs to reflect
and ask what went wrong.
Bélanger won by close to 38 per cent of
the vote in the Liberal stronghold, but his
numbers have been on a steady decline
since he first ran in 1995, when he won with

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over 60 per cent of the vote. Bélanger said
thank you to his constituents for re-electing
him, but did not ignore the fact his party
suffered.
“This is a trigger of reflection of the Liberal Party. We have some thinking to do and
some work to do,” he said.
He added he thinks the party needs to
stop and take notice of what happened on
election night.
“We typically do a post-mortem of our

campaign, but I think the Liberal Party of
Canada tonight enters into a reflection period and it will be to do a national post-mortem,” he said. “I will certainly encourage
our leader to engage in that as soon as possible and allow every single party member
across Canada to engage in that.”
As he watched the election results roll
in, he saw the wave of NDP take Atlantic
Canada and Quebec.
See LISTEN on page 4

Neil Meisner, an Overbrook resident
with a young family who lives on Prince
Albert Street, showed up to city hall on
April 26 to tell the planning committee
why a nine-storey apartment building
on a former convent site is a bad idea.
Even though many other residents
in the area feel the same way, committee gave the green light to the development that will be built at 127 Presland

Rd.
“I’m surprised the planning department has endorsed this,” said Meisner,
who was one of 10 people who showed
up at the meeting to express their opposition. “I think it’s inappropriate
given the surroundings. This is a very
large vertical building and dramatically different than anything within
its radius.”
The U-shaped building, which will
be developed by Group Lépine, will
have 307 units with its entrance com-

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465278

ing directly off the Vanier Parkway.
Opponents said the building would
create more traffic on the parkway
which currently has about 2,000 cars
every hour during rush hour.
However Alain Miguelez, a city planner, said traffic would only increase to
about 100 more cars on the road.
Residents who opposed the development were in agreement that they’re
not anti-development – they just don’t
think this development is right for
their community.
“The height is a big problem for me,”
said Allan Palister, a resident who lives
across the street from the proposed development. “I want to make sure the
development that goes in there won’t
impact me and my neighbours.”
He added that many of his neighbours are concerned with shadowing
of their homes.
Peter Hume, chair of the planning
committee and Alta Vista councillor,
said it seemed as though residents
were fighting for a better design as opposed to density.
However Sheila Perry, president of
the Community Council of Overbrook,
said that the density will be a huge
problem for the neighbourhood.
“The increase of density is clearly
inappropriate and excessive relative to
our neighbourhood,” Perry said. “The
vast majority is single homes. This
proposal is completely incompatible.”
Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Peter Clark

also voiced concerns that were similar
to those of the residents at the meeting, saying he didn’t feel comfortable
with some aspects of the project.
“The community would like to see
less impact on the abutting properties,” Clark said.
Officials from Group Lépine were
also at the meeting with visuals of
what the proposed apartment complex
would look like, and said developers
originally wanted the building to be 12
storeys.
After strong opposition from the
community, they said they decreased
the height.
Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder moved
a motion at the meeting to change
some aspects of the building’s height
and take away 15 units from the buildings original 307.
Along the Vanier Parkway, the apartment is going to be 10 storeys high and
the parts of the building closer to the
neighbourhood will be seven storeys
instead of eight.
Meisner, who also brought up privacy concerns with the apartment’s balconies overlooking the surrounding
homes, said the number of units will
still be too much for the neighbourhood.
“It’s bursting at the seams,” he said
of the number of units on the property. “Everyone has been surprised. I do
welcome new neighbours but I want it
to be an asset to the community.”

Large Selection of Magnolias
in full bloom
“when you’re landscaping...

Staff from Group Lépine, the developer for 127 Presland Rd., showed planning committee what they expect their new apartment building to look like on the former Les Soeurs
Franciscaines Missionaires de Marie de l’Ontario convent site in Overbrook.

News

3
May 5, 2011 - OTTAWA THIS WEEK - EAST

Photo by Michelle Nash

Solar panels line the rooftops in Overbrook’s newest addition to the stock of social housing in Ottawa. The seven blocks of townhomes help fill a deficit of three and four bedroom
accommodations for low-income families, which are needed across the city.

A row of houses in Overbrook is answering the call for more affordable
housing units in the city.
The seven blocks of townhomes on
Presland Road and Lola Street were purchased and refurbished by a non-profit
group in an effort to offer new affordable
housing in the neighbourhood.
The organization, OCISO non-profit
housing, takes part in the city’s social
housing registry to find tenants. Currently, of the 64 townhouses owned, 28
are occupied. The homes offer three and
four bedrooms – something which is a
desperate need in the city.
Three parties have been working to
make this project a reality: Warlyn Construction, the City Housing Branch and
Sound Advice, a consulting firm that
manages the refurbishment and development of the property
The townhomes have been completely
refurbished with extensive repairs, including solar panels on the rooftops for
water hearters, which is part of the ecoenergy program, supported through the
Ontario government.
Bob McKinnui grew up in social housing in Overbrook and now lives in one of
the townhomes that is being renovated.
So far, he has the solar panel hot water
tank and new windows. He is looking forward to more improvements in the next
few weeks.
“This is much, much better. This is
bringing in better tenants and it looks a
lot nicer,” McKinnui said.
The 64 townhomes on Presland Road
and Lola Street were altered to accommodate larger families to supply housing for the demand needed by the city.
Twelve of the units will be four-bedroom
townhomes.
Ottawa Community Housing CEO JoAnne Poirier said these renovated townhomes will definitely fill a desperate need

in the city.
“We have a shortage of larger family
units, this is a great investment,” she
said.
McKinnui said the townhomes were
falling apart because the previous owner
had not taken good care of them. He has
been pleased to see the changes made
since OCISO bought the seven blocks
of homes and began to make a positive
change in Overbrook.
“I have lived here my whole life and
have watched Overbrook become a place
of crime, it seems like it may be changing and this housing is helping,” McKinnui said.
McKinnui added that this housing
complex project should just be the start
of making social housing needs in the
city turn around.
“I still think social housing needs a lot
more attention and we need to look at the
whole issue – poverty, jobs, crime and
housing to make a better neighbourhood
and city,” He said.
There are 22,500 social housing units
in Ottawa and the Ottawa Community
Housing looks after 15,000 units.
With close to 10,000 families on the
social housing waiting list, these townhomes will offer some relief.
Ishbel Solvason, the executive director of the Social Housing Registry, an
independent central registry system that
handles the city’s waiting list, said this
new development is exactly what the system needs.
“Half of the waiting list is made up of
families. The need for family housing is
incredible,” Solvason said.
The housing registry waiting list can
have some families waiting four to eight
years.
In 2010, Solvason said they took in
4,464 new applications and only 1,752
households found homes. Solvason and
Poirier both believe 2011 will be the year
the waiting list gets a little shorter.
“We are encouraged by the support the

city and Jim Watson has promised,” Poirier said.
The townhomes in Overbrook are
available for anyone on the social hous-

ing registry list or subsidy housing lists
in the city. They are available for lowincome families as well as moderate income families of four with an income
of $31,752 to maximum of $47,658 before
taxes to be eligible for the 3-bedroom
townhome.

465851

Federal Election 2011

OTTAWA THIS WEEK - EAST - May 5, 2011

4

Haché encouraged by rising NDP numbers
DAN PLOUFFE
Both the defeated candidates
in Ottawa-Vanier, Trevor Haché
of the NDP and Conservative
Rem Westland, sounded more
like silver and bronze medallists than election losers in their
comments about the results.
Haché was encouraged by his
party’s all-time best showing in
the riding – surpassing the previous high by around 3,000 votes
– while Westland was pleased
to see Bélanger’s winning total
shrink, not to mention the Conservatives’ success nationwide.
“Everyone’s eye has been
focused on the national numbers,” Westland explained at
his campaign headquarters on
Beachwood Avenue. “The party
that we all represent here has
done extremely well, so the
overall mood has been very,
very positive. It’s a campaign
that’s worked almost beyond expectations.”
The national results felt bittersweet to Haché, who believes
the Conservative majority will
result in regressive policies that
will negatively impact health
care,
education,
affordable
housing, the environment and
will make life less affordable for
those already struggling.
“I’m quite worried,” acknowledged Haché, who nearly doubled his vote total compared to
his first campaign in 2008 and
led the NDP to its first-ever second-place result in Ottawa-Vanier.

community continuously until
next election.
Westland shared that view,
emphasizing that a presence between campaigns is the big key
if they are ever to knock off the
Liberals.
“We have to keep our agenda
moving forward so that when
elections come, it’s not the first
time that we get introduced,”
noted the former Canadian
Forces officer. “It’s a question of
maintaining the profile of our
associations locally, and I think
that’s true for all the parties.”
SPLASH OF GREEN IN RED RIDING

Photo by Dan Plouffe

Even though he finished second in Ottawa Vanier, NDP candidate Trevor Hache was proud he was able to
double his vote tally from the 2008 campaign and that his party will form the official opposition.
“But I do take some comfort in
the fact that Jack’s going to be
there every day in Parliament
giving Stephen Harper hell for
all the disasters that he’s going
to create in this country.”
Despite the Liberals’ history
in the area, Haché indicated he
believes that individuals in the
riding do share the NDP’s core
values, but that his party’s job
is to mobilize more people who

are “disaffected with the political system” to get out and vote.
“I think Ottawa-Vanier should
be an NDP riding and it’s only a
matter of time before it is,” said
the 34-year-old Ecology Ottawa
policy coordinator, who was
struck by his door-to-door visits
to affordable housing residents
during the campaign.
“It just broke my heart to talk
to so many people who would

PM ‘will be expected to listen as well as govern’
From LIBERAL on page 1
“I saw the first wave across Atlantic Canada and thought, oh,
this is going to be interesting.
When I saw the second wave, it
was obvious that they were going to be the opposition,” Bélanger said.
Liberal supporters who came
to the Pineview golf club to
support Bélanger watched as
NDP numbers slowly climbed.
Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MPP
Madeleine Meilleur came to
support her longtime friend and
expressed shock as the Liberal
numbers trickled in. As Meilleur and Bélanger watched Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff ’s
concession speech, Meilleur
hugged Bélanger and told him
she wanted to cry.
“I am just so shocked, but I
guess this is what the people
want,” Meilleur said.

Other Liberal supporters
also expressed shock when they
saw the Conservative majority, with an NDP official opposition. Overbrook resident Denis
Rackus said he felt it is now a
good time for the Liberal party
to start from the ground up.
“This is a good opportunity to
rebuild the party. It has to be rebuilt,” Rackus said.
Bob Azzi indicated he was
surprised by the numbers but
happy that Bélanger held the
Ottawa-Vanier riding.
“He is a great MP. He is close
to this community and I believe
he will continue to work hard,”
Azzi said.
As one of 35 Liberals in the
House of Commons, Bélanger
said he will work hard for his
riding as he has in the past.
“I want first to thank the electors in Ottawa-Vanier for the

seventh mandate. I will go there
as I have in the past and proudly
work for our country and in a
cooperative manner.
“I will continue fighting for
what I promised to fight for:
A bridge – but not in Kettle Island, proper development of
CFB Rockcliffe and the continuance of treating our civil servants professionally,” Bélanger
said.
He also thanked his team and
had some words to spare for the
new leader of the opposition.
“I want to congratulate Jack
Layton for becoming the leader
of the official opposition, and
for him I am also going to go
there to cooperate,” Bélanger
said.
The long time MP also congratulated Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his win.
“He has the faith of the future

actually have a better life if an
NDP government was in power, but who decided not to vote
because they’re so upset with
the way politics is done in this
country.”
Haché added that he’s “open
to the idea of running a third
time – and hopefully the third
time will be a charm,” but that
it will be crucial to keep his
“great team” involved in the

One of the biggest cheers of
the night from Haché’s supporters at Derringers Restaurant on
Montreal Road came when TVs
showed Green Party leader Elizabeth May carried a comfortable lead in her Saanich-Gulf
Islands riding.
Westland viewed May’s triumph as “a positive for Canadian democracy” even though it
meant the defeat of a Conservative cabinet minister.
“A competition of ideas is
what it’s all about,” he said. “She
expresses her ideas clearly, and
now obviously more loudly because she’ll have that opportunity in the House of Commons
– and that’s a good thing.”
Green Party candidate Caroline Rioux received just over
five per cent of the popular vote
in Ottawa-Vanier for a total of
2,716 ballots.

Ottawa - Vanier
Candidate

Votes

%

Mauril Bélanger, Liberal Party

20,009

38.2%

Trevor Haché, New Democratic Party

15,391

29.4%

Rem Westland, Conservative Party

15,391

27.1%

Caroline Rioux, Green Party

2,716

5.2%

Christian Legeais, Marxist-Leninist Party

122

0.2%

Source: Elections Canada.

of Canada in his hands and as
such he will be expected to listen as well as govern,” Bélanger
said.
He also took a moment to sing

happy birthday to his wife and
gave her a bouquet of flowers.
He promised to start tacking
the to-do list as early as Tuesday
morning.

Ottawa Centre

Ottawa South

Ottawa - Orleans

Paul Dewar

David McGuinty

Royal Galipeau

52%

44%

44.5%

Federal Election 2011

5

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Photo by Nevil Hunt

Ottawa Centre’s Green Party candidate Jen Hunter, left, celebrate the election in British
Columbia of party leader Elizabeth May with Ottawa-Vanier Green candidate Caroline
Rioux.

Elizabeth May has been elected as the
Green Party’s first Canadian MP.
The party’s percentage of the national vote dropped somewhat – including here in Ottawa – but May hopes her
election will blaze a trail for Greens in
future elections.
Ottawa-Vanier Green candidate Caroline Rioux called May “the beacon” other Greens will follow.
Rioux
and
Ottawa
Centre
Green candidate Jen Hunter gathered at Maxwell’s Bistro on Elgin
Street to watch the results roll in. Both
said their vote softened as the NDP
surged.
“Absolutely,” Rioux said of the progressive vote transfer to the New Democrats. “It was a national wave.”

Rioux added that the timing of the
election – just days or weeks after university students left the city en masse
for the summer – also cooled the Green
vote. She said Elections Canada originally planned six polling stations on
the University of Ottawa campus, but
ended up only needing one.
Hunter said May’s win in SaanichGulf Islands in British Columbia is
important for the party, but added that
keeping the Greens’ national vote above
five per cent is critical as well.
“We’ve been a growing party,” Hunter
said. “I thought (May) would win. We
were very strategic in investing to make
that happen.”
During the 2008 election in Ottawa
Centre, Hunter came close to capturing
10 per cent of the votes.
“If I don’t get 10 per cent, I’m going to
be pissed,” she said.

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A request to investigate Coun.
Peter Clark’s election financial
statements was rejected by the
City of Ottawa’s election compliance audit committee on
Tuesday, May 3.
The Rideau-Rockcliffe councillor was accused of using an
automated telephone list from
the federal candidate in the riding. Richard Cannings claimed
this telephone list could cost
upwards of $10,000, arguing
Clark’s financial statement does
not show this cost. Committee
chairperson Claudine Girault
rejected the request to investigate Clark’s list on the grounds
that Cannings was asking for a
fishing expedition.
“I have to conclude there is
no reasonable ground for this
request. You never told how
you got the information you
got... saying a conversation took
place. It’s not enough to convince someone and I can’t place
much weight on that,” Girault
said.
The motion to reject the request for an audit on Clark’s
electoral financial statement
was unanimously passed by all
four committee members.
Clark was accused of using
a secretive phone list known as

File photo

The city’s election compliance audit committee rejected a request for
an audit on Coun. Peter Clark’s election finances, saying the request,
made by a Clark rival in Rideau-Rockcliffe, Richard Cannings, seemed
to be a fishing expedition.
the “Liberal list” to win favour
with voters. His defeated competitor, Cannings, who came in
fifth in the municipal election,
was accusing Clark of using the
list but not claiming it as part of
his election expenses.
“If you have this automated
list, you don’t have to knock on

doors,” Cannings said.
He couldn’t give concrete
proof of Clark’s use of the list,
which Cannings alleges was provided by the Liberal MP for Ottawa-Vanier, Mauril Bélanger.
“It seems like he has a clearcut vendetta, but clearly he did
not have any evidence to go on,

there was false information
he was spreading all over the
place,” Clark said.
The allegations were first
brought forth on April 18, but a
decision by the committee was
delayed because Clark asked for
more time, as he had been out of
the country for a week starting
April 12 and had only learned of
the first hearing the morning it
was scheduled to happen.
Clark said he knew about
the application for the hearing
because it was sent on April 6,
before he left town (not on city
business). But he didn’t know
when a hearing would be held,
so he wasn’t prepared.
During the rescheduled hearing, Cannings presented his
case and tried to bring forth
new allegations that questioned
website hosting fees, rent for
Clark’s campaign office and the
total cost of Clark’s telephone
bill – all of which were also
dismissed by the committee as
these were new allegations and
needed to be filed separately.
“Does this committee take
these complaints seriously?”
Cannings asked.
The committee also heard from
Clark’s lawyer, Greg Meds, who
stated the plaintiff seemed to
show a stunning lack of knowledge for the process or respect.
The committee asked Clark, as

a show of good faith, to produce
the receipt for his telephone
lists, which Clark produced.
He said he got the names from
postal codes. He produced two
separate receipts, one for Voter
ID calls, which cost $999. Clark
also called 5,500 households at a
cost of seven cents per call totalling $1,000.05.
By offering these receipts,
committee
member
Peter
O’Callaghan indicated he felt
the allegations may have been
well intended but without any
first hand knowledge of whether Clark paid for a list.
Cannings allegations came
from “a lady whose door he
knocked on”, his barber and
other constituents in the riding,
according to Cannings written
statement.
With the motion rejected, Cannings has said he will be seeking
legal action against Clark.
He indicated he believes
that finding the names simply
through postal codes was not
possible and the cost of the list
is actually much higher.
“The only way he could have
won is through having a list,”
Cannings said.
Clark said he will not be suing
Cannings for defamation at this
time.
With files from Laura Mueller

Ottawa students drum
support for schools
for their First Nations peers
EDDIE RWEMA
eddie.rwema@metroland.com

Hundreds of students from
across Ottawa marched to Parliament Hill on April 27 to call
on the federal government to
improve the quality of schools
on First Nations reserves.
The rally was part of a national day of action in memory
of Shannen Koostachin, a Cree
teen who led a campaign to
bring a school to her James Bay
community.
One by one, students delivered letters of support for their
First Nations peers addressed
to Conservative leader Stephen
Harper, calling for equity in education and end to social injustices faced by children living on
First Nations reserves.
Shannen was a member of the
Attawapiskat First Nation who
also advocated for improved
support for all First Nations
students. She died tragically in

a car accident last year at age
15.
“It is sad when children are
telling leaders what to do,” said
Chelsea Edwards, a friend of
Shannen’s. “I am very happy
and thrilled to be here to witness Shannen’s dream flourishing.”
Andrew Koostachin, Shannen’s father, said the event was
an opportunity for people to
understand what his daughter’s
dream was all about.
“It is good to see young people
from all walks of life supporting
her dream,” he said. “She fought
for equal rights to education for
all children, especially the First
Nations children and this is just
awesome to see.”
Ottawa Centre NDP candidate
Paul Dewar, who was at hand
to receive the letters from the
students, stressed that no Canadian should go without a proper
education.
“They should get schools like

Photo by Eddie Rwema

Students from Ottawa schools gathered on Parliament Hill on April 27 in support of Shannen’s Dream, calling on the federal government to improve the quality of schools on First Nations reserves in Canada.
the ones we have here,” Dewar
said.
Dewar read out a letter of
one of the students addressed
to Harper. The letter from 12year-old Jasmine, who lives in
Ottawa, sought to dispell the
myth that living in Canada automatically meant getting education.
“The government needs to
build schools in Aboriginal reserves because not having education is like not having a fu-

ture,” Jasmine’s letter read.
For years, the children from
Shannen’s hometown of Attawapiskat, have waited for the
federal government to rebuild
the elementary school after the
old school was closed in 2000 after a large diesel spill contaminated the ground beneath it.
Frustrated and feeling abandoned, the children launched
a letter-writing campaign, calling on the government to build
them a new school.

In her letter, Jasmine said it
is sad there are 29 schools that
need to be renovated and at
least 48 that need to be built in
First Nations reserves across
the country, yet the government was doing nothing about
it.
In 2008, Shannen’s Grade 8
class cancelled a trip to Niagara
Falls and used the money to send
three representatives to Ottawa
to meet with then-Indian Affairs minister Chuck Strahl to

Residents from Overbrook came
to a community council meeting to
meet with city staff about the Ottawa
Stadium report released on March 30
and question the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions.
The meeting held on April 28 at
Rideau High School had 15 people in
attendance to meet with the Ottawa
Stadium long term strategy implementation process author Gordon
MacNair and consultant Dave Donaldson. They wanted to better understand the intentions of the report and
the consultation process regarding the
fate of the Ottawa Baseball Stadium.
Everyone in the room questioned the
reportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intent and whether a consultation process would even hold any
merit to the fate of their neighbourhood stadium.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately I read your report
and even today, we are being asked
only to participate in a process to implement the decision that has already
been made, that is how I read it, unless Mr. MacNair is willing to guarantee us that that 50 page report is not
going to go forward as it existed in
the 30th of March draft,â&#x20AC;? Overbrook
resident and member of the council,
David Strambruck said.
The report stated the fate of the Ottawa Baseball Stadium would not be
able to rely simply on baseball. It was
commissioned by city staff to find the
best and highest use for 300 Coventry
Rd.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been dealing with city
officials and have met with misrepresentation of facts as well as quote
consultation and right now, this process smells like you want us to be participating but basically the decision
is already made,â&#x20AC;? Strambruck added.
The report, tabled on April 5 at the
Finance and Economic Development
Committee by Mayor Jim Watson had
concluded the best future for the 16.23
acres property is mixed use which
could involve the sale of the parking
lot (6.23 acres) to be developed as retail or office building use. The analysis also stated the stadium could be
converted into a concert-bowl as a
long-term option for the stadiumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
future. The problem, which many of
the residents spoke up about, was the
statement in the report which read,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Based on the findings set out in the
previous sections of this Analysis,
maintaining the stadium facility for
the long-term, without development
on the main parking lot area and at
least, some modification to the facility to broaden the use and increase
the revenue stream for the facility,
appears to be unrealistic.â&#x20AC;? The report
said.
Donaldson said the report simply
states the only place they see potential development is the parking lot
and that the decision will only be
made after the consultation process.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The only place we see development is the parking lot, but the decision will be part of the process,â&#x20AC;? Donaldson said.
Strambruck felt the only reason

File photo

A recent city staff report calls for the sale of the Ottawa Baseball Stadium parking lot for development. At a recent meeting held by Overbrook Community Council, residents and council members questioned the report and the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions.
they are still questioning the report
is because of the opposition from the
community.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The parking lot is sold, the stadium might exist but basically this
whole process is about, gee, what
kind of development do we want on
the parking lot side because basically
an approval of the report that Mr.
MacNair has written and put on the
table got pulled only because of our
letter,â&#x20AC;? Strambruck added.
The letter Strambruck mentioned
was a letter to Mayor Jim Watson
from the Overbrook Community
Council president Sheila Perry. The
letter asked Watson to defer the acceptance of the report.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Only last Thursday (24th March
2011) the CCO received a presentation from Mr. David Donaldson (City
of Ottawa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Realty Initiative and Development) about an invitation to the
CCO to participate in a community
process to be considered by the City
of Ottawa Planning Committee with
respect to the future of the Ottawa
Stadium site. At that time, we were
not informed of anything that would
jeopardize the viability of the site
(which a sale of the parking lot at the
site would entail),â&#x20AC;? Perry wrote in
her letter to the Mayor.
Mayor Jim Watson ordered the report be held off the night before it
was set to be discussed. The mayor,
who was away ill with the flu, ar-

gued there hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been enough public consultation and Bruce Graham,
the mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spokesman, said Watson
felt there was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;miscommunicationâ&#x20AC;?
with how the report was received by
the community.
Perry said community council felt
used and insulted by the invitation to
take part in a consultation.
Mickey Green, Overbrook Community Council treasurer asked Donaldson and MacNair to in good faith add
wording which could give the residents comfort and make them able to
trust the process the city wishes for
them to participate in.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can you not add a paragraph
that says this process and the fate of
the stadium parking lot is not set in
stone?â&#x20AC;? Green asked.
Both Donaldson and MacNair said
they could not alter the report, but
would go back to the city and voice
the concerns of the residents.
The council prepared their own
report detailing their concerns. MacNair also promised to present it to
city staff and to council.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we need to engage them
through the process. We have taken
mental notes and let them know that
we heard them tonight and we will
attach a document to the report with
their concerns,â&#x20AC;? MacNair said.
MacNair could not answer whether
or not if the consultations process resulted in the communities desire to

keep the Ottawa Stadium as is, whether the parking lot will remain untouched.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a matter of going through the process and
then you have to analyze the whole process...No
idea is a bad idea, but it is just like going through
the brainstorming process you have to analyze the
ideas that come out of the process,â&#x20AC;? McNair said.
Perry was pleased with this first meeting with
the city and Donaldson. She noted that because of
recent events, such as their fight with over issues
in the community, it is important to have an open
and transparent understanding throughout the entire process.
With files from Laura Mueller

tephen Harper’s appeal to the voters to
deliver him a majority government did not
fall on deaf ears.
The Conservatives picked up 167 seats,
an increase of 24 seats.
The Tory tide once again swept across Ottawa,
with only David McGuinty and Mauril Belanger
holding on to Liberal seats in Ottawa South and
Ottawa-Vanier. In Ottawa Centre, Paul Dewar
secured his seat for the NDP.
The anticipated surge of NDP support did not
hurt the Tories, except in a few ridings in Quebec, where most of the seats picked up by the
party were taken from the Liberals.
During the campaign, the prime minister
warned Canadians that a minority Tory government couldn’t hold on to power and would fall
prey to a coalition of the Liberals, NDP or potentially the Bloc Quebecois.
Harper’s predictions were alarming with
warnings of hits to the financial markets, deficit
spending and possibly reopening the Constitution
for another divisive debate that nobody wanted.
Canadians obviously listened, and Harper no
longer faces the spectre of having to compromise

or work to achieve consensus with the opposition.
But is that necessarily a good thing?
Yes, a majority government will give the Tories
the tools to pass legislation that could have been
delayed by a united opposition.
And as Tory MP Gordon O’Connor pointed out, a
majority win will allow the Conservatives to stand
down from continuous preparation for yet another
election, and focus on the task of governing.
But when they were a minority government,
the Tories were forced to listen to the ideas of
other parties and to compromise.
The politics of consensus forces a leader to sift
through the ideas of competing parties and incorporate the best parts within his or her own policies.
We hope winning a majority won’t go Harper’s
head.
The Tories often use the word “arrogance” to
explain the federal Liberals fall in fortune, they
might want to avoid a similar accusation over the
next four years.
Be a good prime minister, Harper.
Listen to other ideas, use the best ones.
Remember, in a democracy we elect a prime
minister, we don’t anoint a king.

COLUMN

A winter game for all seasons

M

any factors go into making
Canada the unique country it
is, as recent political events
have shown.
On a non-political level, we have Tim
Hortons and the Group of Seven and
a large group of comedians located in
the United States. We have football with
three downs. We have three coasts and at
least two seasons. We have many languages and very few species of deadly
snakes. We have movie theatres that
don’t show Canadian movies. Oh, wait,
other countries have those too.
One of the other non-political things
that has been commented upon lately is
the fact that our hockey season, the season for a winter game played on ice, now
lasts into June. In fact, one estimate puts
the last possible Stanley Cup final game
as late as June 18.
This has consequences that go far
beyond sport. Coupled with daylight saving time, it means that many Canadians
will be indoors in the air-conditioning
watching television while the sun is still
shining and they could be outside playing games and getting fit.
It also means that a goodly percentage
of Canadians, those who avidly follow

CHARLES
GORDON
Funny Town
playoff games, show up for work tired
and grouchy, or not show up at all. Productivity declines.
Furthermore, children of permissive
parents who avidly follow games played
on the west coast will be difficult in class
unless, mercifully, they fall asleep. This
may explain why our children are constantly outperformed by children who
come from countries where there is no
hockey. These are some of the important
social and economic consequences of our
obsession with hockey and the hockey
owners’ obsession with dragging out the
season.
As we see from the world news, in
most other countries, spring is a time for
getting the crops in, playing baseball and
staging insurrections. Not here. Which

East

just goes to show that there is more to the
Canadian identity than an unelected Senate and the notwithstanding clause.
If the hockey nuttiness ended here,
you could put it down to a mild case of
national eccentricity – people staying up
too late, watching TV when they could be
strolling in the spring evening air when
it’s not raining. But, unfortunately, there
is more to it. For at the same time as the
rest of the world is having revolutions,
spring planting and baseball games,
those Canadians who venture outdoors,
are playing hockey.
But they’re not playing hockey with ice
and a puck. They’re playing hockey with
pavement and a ball. Ball hockey interest peaks in the spring because all those
boys and girls and their parents want to
try out the moves they see on television,
except for the hitting from behind and
elbows to the head.
So out they go onto the street, between
televised games, just as the professional
hockey season is winding down and
many hockey players, in fact, are out on
the golf course. This typically Canadian
scene causes cars to be inconvenienced
and the more fussy neighbours to be upset, leading in turn to another uniquely

Canadian phenomenon – the complaint
to city hall and the police raid on street
hockey nets. If you lived in Lusaka, Jakarta or Paris, you would not be aware of
any of this. The streets of those cities are
notable for their absence of hockey nets.
In Canada, the police raids on outdoor
hockey nets lead to letters to the editor,
phone calls to talk radio shows and a lot
of public hand-wringing generally. The
rights of kids (and their parents) to have
fun are weighed against the right of private property and a uniquely Canadian
philosophical battle ensues.
This will last until the real hockey
season begins again and everybody goes
back inside.

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OPINION

BRYNNA
LESLIE
Capital Muse

I

’m writing this column before the
ballots have been counted. Despite
the wildly inconsistent polling numbers in the final week of the campaign, I’m going to presume the further
decline of the already-deflated Liberal
Party of Canada.
The Liberal Party, after all, has failed
to be relevant to voters in the wake of
successive majorities under Jean Chretien. And as three leaders in five years
proves, this is not merely a leadership
issue, but a party-wide issue.
After years of infighting, which turned
party loyalists against each other and
their own party, Paul Martin finally took
the helm, only to lose the party’s majority in the 2004 general election, and then
losing the government in 2006. The party
had an opportunity at that time to shake
off its sense of entitlement. It failed.
The surprise election of Stephane
Dion to the leadership further demonstrated how out of touch the party
faithful are with the Canadian public,
especially in vote-rich Quebec. Dion is an

intellectual, capable politician. He is also
uncharismatic, an emotional ideologue
and one who was and remains widely
disliked in la Belle Province. He was,
after all, the author of the Clarity Act.
The final nail in his leadership coffin
came in the 2008 election when he failed
to sell his green shift policy and reduced
the Liberals to just 26 per cent of the
popular vote.
In the most recent campaign, many
Canadian commentators have blamed
Conservative attack ads for Michael Ignatieff ’s uphill battle to gain popularity.
Certainly, it was a challenge to overcome.
And the leader did well in his cross-country town halls over the past five weeks,
and last summer, winning over pockets
of voters with his apparent openness and
his obvious intellect.
But those in the party who thought
Ignatieff had a chance to turn things
around forgot two important things:
First, there are still card-carrying
Liberals who have refused to accept the
legitimacy of Ignatieff ’s leadership. His
leadership has never been contested
within the party. And although his
position was ratified by 97 per cent of
delegates at the party’s 2009 convention,
it’s thought many voted for the acclamation, but held their noses in the absence
of alternatives.
Second, Ignatieff has the most appalling attendance record for votes in
the House of Commons. Only a handful
of Toronto-area Liberals come close

to matching his abhorrent attendance
record. This left him wide open to criticism from NDP leader Jack Layton in the
English leaders debate that if Ignatieff
wanted to be prime minister, he had to
learn to be a parliamentarian first. It also
undermined Ignatieff ’s own criticism
of Harper for disrespecting Parliament.
Nothing says disrespect like truancy.
And while the numbers, alone, don’t tell
the entire truth – party leaders, cabinet
ministers and critics do have important
work outside of the Commons – Ignatieff ’s record demonstrated extreme
truancy. And for Canadian voters, it was
enough to turn away from the “Big Red
Tent.”
And on that note, the “Big Red Tent”
is, I would wager, the biggest failure of
this and past campaigns. The Liberals
need to go back and read marketing 101
materials.
The first thing any organization must
do is differentiate itself from the competition. The sprawling big red tent is
anything but niche and Canadian voters
looking for a place to park their votes
were conscious of this fact. The party
did nothing to call on its own unique and
rich history as the creators and protectors of bilingualism, multiculturalism,
multilateral trade, and public healthcare,
and they failed to offer a vision of the
future based on their past success.
Instead, they offered carrots to as
many voters as they could, costed for
just a few years to try and get people into
the big tent. And as I write this on May
2, I think the Canadian voters will best
determine the success of Liberal marketing methods.

Web Poll
THIS WEEK’S POLL QUESTION
What do you think of the government’s historic changes from this election?

A) I’m happy for the NDP, even if their success
led to a Conservative majority.

B) A Conservative majority is what Canada
needs to move forward.

C) A Conservative majority will hurt everyday
Canadians and move us closer to American
values and systems.

D) The Liberals should use this opportunity to
start to rebuild.

LAST WEEK’S POLL SUMMARY
How do you plan to cast your vote in the
Federal election on May 2?

A) I always vote for the same party

20%

no matter what the issues are.

B) I will vote for the candidate who

64%

will best represent my riding,
regardless of their party.

C) I intend to vote strategically, to
bolster a particular party’s chances
even if I don’t support their politics.

8%

D) I don’t intend on voting.

8%

To participate in our web polls, review answers,
and read more articles, visit us online at
www.yourottawaregion.com.

Community members and the Police
Services Board concluded education and
community teamwork is vital when it
comes to preventing youth crime in Ottawa.
“We have heard you loud and clear. We
will be making it out priority to work as
a team to prevent youth crime,” said Eli
El-Chantiry, chairman of the Police Services Board, at an open dialogue with the
community on the subject of preventing
youth crime as part of their community
outreach and engagement strategy.
At the event, held at City Hall on April
26, El-Chantiry explained the board wanted to hear from the communities to help
build policies that work and reflect the
needs of the communities.
Guest speaker Hawa Mohamed, from

the Canadian Somali Mothers Association of Ottawa, told those gathered about
how important education and the role of
the community play in making a child
stay away from crime.
“Children have two places to rely on
learning what is right and what is wrong
–their parents and their school. And right
now, there are no expectations in school
for children to do better or work hard,”
Mohamed said, adding she would like the
gaps she feels exists in the school systems
in low-income neighbourhoods to be addressed.
“When there are no expectations, they
can’t achieve to do better.”
Mohamed also felt organized crime appeals to youth because it offers them acceptance and money.
“Crime gives them things and lets them
feel apart of things.”
She said she would like education to

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reflect the needs of the community in
which the schools are based.
“When they don’t see anything good
around where they live and there are no
expectations in their schools, they can
slip out of your hands,” Mohamed added.
Amran Ali, another mother in the Canadian Somali Mothers Association of
Ottawa spoke about how for their children, the school system seems to be failing them.
“A community who is black, a community who is Somali, who is Muslim, who is
poor – the school system is failing us,” Ali
said. She added there are kids in Grade 8
who can not read past a Grade 2 level and
believes this is an issue that falls onto the
shoulders of the school system.
“My core fundamental learning happened in the classroom and I want the
police board to advocate for us.”
The evening also included two other
guest speakers, Imam Zijad Delic who
spoke about the importance of engaging
youth and Staff Sgt. Steven Bell from the
Youth Intervention and Diversion Section.
Delic said he also felt education needed to
play a key role in prevention.
“Besides parents, it is very much important to get engaged with the schools.”
However, Delic felt the only way to combat youth crime was to work as a team
and make the changes as a community.
“If kids are ending up in jail, then we,
as a community have missed an opportunity to do better for them.”
During the open question period of the
evening, the members of the public continually asked the Police Service Board
and communities to work together in prevention of youth crime.
Mohamed Sofa, a community health

File photo

Chairman of the Police Services Board
Eli El-Chantiry, shown in an undated file
photo, told members of the community
gathered for a dialogue on youth crime
the board heard the message loud and
clear: teamwork is a must to tackle the
problem.
worker from Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre, said to solve the
problem of youth crime, dialogue is the
most important piece to the puzzle.
“I think there are issues happening on
the ground in communities that are not
being talked about,” said Sofa. “We have
got to reach out to the communities and
work together and then we will see success which can be duplicated across the
city.”
For Ali, she hopes that one day the
dialogue will stop and the answers will
come.
“I hope one day change will happen. We
need to talk about it now, but one day, we
will stop talking and we will be able to see
change.”

Women new to Canada who are in abusive relationships or at risk of abuse are
set to benefit from a public education
campaign provided by an Ottawa-based
organization, the province announced
last Friday.
Immigrant Women Services Ottawa
will receive $50,000 from the provincial
government to provide culturally and linguistically sensitive training over the next
18 months to better reach immigrant and
refugee populations in the Ottawa area.
“This funding is aimed at helping curb
domestic violence among members of
our community, especially Muslim communities,” said Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir
Naqvi.
The program is part of the provincial
government’s Neighbours, Friends and
Families campaign that aims to raise
awareness about women abuse to new Canadians in Ottawa.
The campaign helps people recognize
the signs of violence against women, and
know what actions to take in response.
The campaign is part of Ontario’s domestic violence action plan, which focus-

es on prevention and better community
support for abused woman and their children.
“This campaign aims to empower people
in our community to take action against
domestic violence,” said Naqvi. “We need
to work together to end woman abuse.”
In a statement Laurel Broten, Ontario
minister responsible for women’s issues,
said the campaign is an important part
of her government’s domestic violence
action plan to prevent violence against
women.
“All women have the right to feel and
be safe in their homes, communities and
workplaces,” her statement said.
The Ontario government is investing
more than $668,000 to expand the Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign
into immigrant and refugee communities
across Ontario.
It is currently delivered in over 200 communities across the province.
“This project will create opportunities for us to train individuals to work
with their community and develop partnerships to eliminate all forms of abuse
against women,” Lucya Spencer, Executive Director Immigrant Women Services
Ottawa said in a statement.

Community

11

MICHELLE NASH
michelle.nash@metroland.com

Boys and girls took a break from homework to celebrate the partnership the
Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa at the McCann Clubhouse and Queen Elizabeth
Public School.
The club is an afterschool program
with professional tutors. Queen Elizabeth
Public School applied for a grant through
the Ministry of Education to provide the
funding for the club to professionally staff
the homework club. The Boys and Girls
Club of Ottawa McCann Clubhouse unit
provides a bus to safely bring the kids to
the clubhouse after school.
McCann Clubhouse director Adam
Joiner said it is a great way to give both
the kids and parents assurance homework gets done in time and correctly.
“It is a great way to offer the kids a
chance to do their homework with professional tutors. Something, if it weren’t for
Queen E, we would not be able to do. It is a
great partnership,” Joiner said.
The clubhouse has noticed a consistent
number of 90 to 110 students at the homework club each night since the program
started. The kids have the chance to get
their school work done and then continue

Photo by Michelle Nash

At the McCann Clubhouse, the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa celebrated the spectacular partnership they have created with the local public school, Queen Elizabeth Public
School and their new professionally staffed homework club.
on with the other Boys and Girls Club programs.
Supply teacher by day and tutor at the
clubhouse at night, Holly Taylor finds this
partnership really offers the kids the best

of both worlds.
“They get their work done and still get
to play,” Taylor said.
Like the other tutors, Taylor individualizes the study programs for each student

to make sure the kids take advantage of
the best form of learning for them.
“We get to know them and how they
learn and what interests them and build
the study guide program from there,”
Taylor adds.
Natasha Mattix-Simon has been taking
part in the program for the last two year
and said she has noticeably improved her
math skills. She also said she likes getting
extra credit work if there’s no work to
complete.
“If you don’t have homework, you get
to read cool stories and talk about them,”
Mattix-Simon said.
The 12-year-old added that she is interested in writing short stories and the
homework club has given her the opportunity to work on her writing skills.
Joiner said he believes the partnership
between the school and the clubhouse
works out so well because the school provides the professional needs and the clubhouse provides the social skills.
Vice-principal of Queen Elizabeth Public School Marc Cruise is also pleased
with the program. Of course the educational benefit is the finest aspect.
“The kids get at least one hour or more
of uninterrupted learning time,” Cruise
said.

Nepean-based folk musician Ana Miura
will be one of the highlights of the 2011
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest.
board Magazine has ranked as one of the
Top 10 music festivals in North America.
Miura, who will be performing at one
of the festival satellite locations on Rideau Centre, wants to remind Ottawans
there will also be a wide variety of local
talent on display as well.
“The festival will provide music lovers
with a great opportunity to see their favourites and new up coming musicians,”
Miura noted. “I hope they will check on
us too.”
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest will celebrate
their 18th edition with an array of blues,
gospel, roots, world and popular music.
“It is a great cross section of just everything,” said Miura.
The festival will feature six stages—
five outdoors at the Lebreton Flats and
an indoor stage inside the neighbouring
Canadian War Museum.

458683

Local folk singer Ana Miura is one of
more than 200 acts expected to play at the
2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest in July, and
she’s looking forward to playing on one
of the biggest stages in North America.
“It is an awesome opportunity for a local artist like me to be performing at this
year’s Bluesfest” said Miura. “It is such
a huge festival, not just in Ottawa, but in
North America and to be able to mention
that you played in such a festival is very
important both for your resume and career.”
Spanning 13 days, from July 5 to 17
(Monday, July 10 is an off-day), the festival
lineup, released on April 26, will feature
artists ranging from indie-rock darlings
The Flaming Lips to music legends like
Peter Frampton and Bootsy Collins.
Other acts who confirmed for event,
which will take place once again at the
Lebreton Flats, include Soundgarden,
Huey Lewis and The News, Ben Harper,
Steve Miller Band, The Black Keys, Death
Cab for Cutie, Erykah Badu, Jennifer
Hudson, The Roots and Girl Talk.
As far as Canadian content goes, fans
will have the chance to catch performances by the Tragically Hip, Death
From Above 1979, Bedouin Soundclash,
Blue Rodeo, Billy Talent and Buck 65,
also known as Richard Terfry, who is also
the host of CBC Radio 2’s Radio 2 Drive
show.
Additional artists are expected to be
added to the lineup as the festival draws
near.
Organizers are expecting another year
of great attendance while offering a dynamic festival experience for what Bill-

May 5, 2011 - OTTAWA THIS WEEK - EAST

Students celebrate McCann Clubhouse homework club

the ULTIMATE
Summer Fun
& Camp Guide
Summer
2011

Hundreds of reasons why every
child should go to camp
By Matt Barr of Camps Canada
Why go to camp? Here’s a partial list of the
many reasons:

Every child should go to camp to:
• make new friends (the number one outcome cited
by children who attend camp)

at most camps)
• to gain leadership skills (within a group of their
peers)
• experience many things for the first time
• build confidence in all the things they can do

• do chores without being paid (kids help to clean
up after lunch and to keep the camp area clean)

• take responsibility for others and help out

• have one outstanding teacher (we have lots of the
non¬ academic kind here)

• meet a new circle of peers (outside of their school
friends)

• see positive adult role models in a fun
environment

• create life-long friendships

• experience a community where everyone is
welcome regardless of race, colour or religion

• gain a greater sense of personal satisfaction and
personal habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle

• learn how to swim (many camps provide daily
swimming opportunities)

• trust their own instincts and gain a sense of
independence

• receive praise for who she is and what she has
accomplished (counselors do this all the time)

• have fun

• turn off the television for a week (there are no TV’s

• increase their problem-solving skills

• learn to adjust to new environments

continued on page 13

13

By Matt Barr of Camps Canada

Camps are uniquely positioned to provide all of
these developmental needs for children. Consider
camp as the perfect partner to family, school, and
community youth activities in helping your child
learn independence, decision-making, social and
emotional skills, character building and values - all
in an atmosphere of creativity and enrichment under
the supervision of positive adult role models.
In today’s pressure-oriented society, camp provides a non-threatening environment for Canada’s
youth to be active, to develop competence in life
skills, to learn about and enhance their own abilities and to benefit from meaningful participation in
a community designed just for them.

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS
The camp experience is recognized by child
development professionals as valuable in helping
children mature socially, emotionally, intellectually,
morally, and physically.

continued from page 12
A camp experience is without equal. Even those
campers who during the school year have behavioural problems, difficulty concentrating or who cannot relate well to their peers are highly successful.
How is all of this accomplished in a recreational/educational setting that is overseen by a few camping
professionals, but is administered for the most part
by high school and university students. The answer
is complex; however, the key to the success of camp
is that all its efforts are focused on the individual
and not on the program.
The program is the tool. The medium is the out
of doors; the strategy is to earn the trust of the child
in order to make the experience positive, non-threatening, creative and enjoyable. The camping community has long realized that when a child is placed
in a trusting, nurturing environment devoid of the
pressure to pass or fail and without competition, the
motivation to learn is greatly increased. Each summer it is evident by the smiles on their faces, and the
laughter we hear that campers are extremely happy
in the camp environment. They learn to be self reliant, cooperative, understanding and sensitive.
As part of a relatively small group they make
friendships and establish bonds that will last a lifetime.
The trust that is established allows them to take
risks, experiment, challenge themselves and learn
from these trials. Day to day they face a multitude of
real life situations for which they find their own solutions or work closely with others to resolve them.

appreciate individual differences and are willing to
reach out to assist others or allow themselves to be
helped. Through challenging and creative activities
they develop skills that will be useful as they cope
with everyday life.
From each experience they become more self
confident and develop an increased self esteem
which allows them to continue to reach out and
look for more. All this in a fun-filled, stress free environment.
Camp is a place where strengths are reinforced,
where people recognize and accept that all of us
have varying abilities and talents. In so doing, each
participant can applaud the efforts of peers. Feeling
that support, the young person is willing to attempt
more complex and challenging activities without the
fear of failure. In this environment the “poor student” has an opportunity for recognition and leadership that may otherwise be denied. Camp is for
every child regardless of talent and ability.
The American Camping Association (ACA) studies report that people who participate in camping
and recreation experiences are healthier and have
fewer problems as a result of their experiences. Similar findings would be expected for Canada.
The largest research study of camper outcomes
ever conducted in the United States asked over
5,000 families about positive identity and social
skills acquired at camp:

CAMPERS SAY
• Camp helped me make new friends. (96%)

They develop logical thinking. They assume
various roles within the group based upon their
strengths. They are better able to make choices for
themselves that meet their needs and the needs of
others. They become part of a community as they get
caught up in the enthusiastic displays of spirit and
singing that make camp distinct. Moreover, without
realizing it they develop skills that relate directly to
academic subjects such as geography, mathematics,
kinesiology, meteorology, biology, natural sciences
and languages.

• Camp helped me get to know other campers who
were different from me. (94%)

Their ability to communicate with their peers and
their leaders is enhanced. They learn to accept and

“At camp, children learn to problemsolve, make social adjustments to new
and different people, learn responsibility, and gain new skills to increase their
self-esteem,” says author/education Peter
Scales of The Search Institute.
Noted experts in child development
have expressed their thoughts on summer camp as a valuable resource for giving children the value of belonging to a
community of their own. This critically important sense of community for children
is rooted in enabling and empowering
children to be belonging, cooperating,
contributing, and caring citizens.
“Each summer at camp a unique setting is created, a community is constructed that allows participants to get in touch
with a sense of life that is larger than
one’s self,” says Bruce Muchnick, licensed
psychologist who works extensively with
day and resident camps. “The camp community seeks to satisfy children’s basic
need for connectedness, affiliation, belonging, acceptance, safety, and feelings
of acceptance and appreciation.”
“It is in the crucible of this community
that children gain self-esteem with humility, overcome their inflated sense of self,
and develop a lifelong sense of grace and
wonder,” says Bob Differ, licensed clinical social worker specializing in child and
adolescent treatment.
“What makes camp a special community is its focus on celebrating effort,”
says Michael Brandwein, speaker and
consultant to the camp profession. “In
this less pressured atmosphere, children
learn more readily what positive things to
say and do when they make mistakes and
face challenges.”

“They are encouraged to respect the differences
between people. In an increasingly sarcastic, putdown oriented world, camps aim to be an oasis of
personal safety where demeaning comments and
disrespectful behavior are not tolerated, and children are taught responsible and positive ways to
resolve conflicts.”
• excerpts extracted from the American Camp Association website at: http://www.acacamps.org
Matt Barr is the owner of Camps Canada,
a summer camp based in Ottawa, Ontario.
As a voice for Canadian Camp Owners and
Camp Directors, Matt is a frequent guest
on radio and television programs across
the country discussing the latest trends
and issues in summer camps. You can reach
him by email at: matt@campscanada.com
460590

460590

photo submitted by Camps Canada

“The building blocks of self-esteem are belonging, learning, and contributing,” says Michael Popkin, family therapist and founder of Active Parenting.
“The biggest plus of camp is that camps
help young people discover and explore
their talents, interests, and values. Most
schools don’t satisfy all these needs. Kids
who have had these kinds of (camp) experiences end up being healthier and have
less problems which concern us all.”

He says the traditions and customs of each different camp are like a secret code that allows those
who know it to feel embraced by something unique
and special. “Campers are urged to include, not
exclude, others. They are praised for choosing new
partners and not always the same ones.

Volunteers breathe new life into Mink Lake’s Camp Smitty
BY KRISTA JOHNSTON
For close to a century, the Boys and
Girls Club of Ottawa has welcomed thousands of children to the shores of Mink
Lake to experience a summer they will
never forget.
Located just minutes from the village
of Eganville – and just an hour from Scotiabank Place – Camp Smitty has become
a place where children from across the
province can form long-lasting friendships, gain new outdoor skills and learn
a greater sense of independence. It is
also a place where children, who couldn’t
otherwise afford to spend their summer
at camp, have the chance to experience
the good life.
With so much history embedded in its
roots, the 28-acre property has seen its
share of wear and tear, with many older
buildings requiring signiﬁcant upgrades
and replacement. But thanks to the help
of many dedicated volunteers, businesses and community groups, Camp Smitty
has been graced with a number of new
facilities, including six modern cabins,
two winterized bathroom blocks and a
1,250 square-foot log home.
“I went to Camp Smitty as a kid way
back in 1980 and was a staff member there
for a number of years,” says the camp’s
director Tom Patrick. “Even back then,
the cabins were rustic, but we were a nonproﬁt camp. Now, because of the community and the volunteers who have rallied
around it, you can compare Camp Smitty
to many of the private camps that are a lot
more ﬁnancially supported.”
In the last 10 years, volunteer groups
from Amsted Construction, Capital City
Chorus, the Kiwanis Club of Ottawa, the
Ottawa Senators Alumni and the Boys
and Girls Club have come to the Mink
Lake for annual work bees to breathe
new life into Camp Smitty.
Through their dedicated efforts, these
volunteers have provided ongoing enhancements to the site, including beautiful ﬁnishes to the dining hall (including new ﬂooring, insulation and a stone
ﬁreplace), a new maintenance shed, improvements to the senior staff cabin’s
main ﬂoor (with a second ﬂoor added),
the construction of two tree houses
(which can sleep up to 10 people), a new
gazebo and wrap-around decks for the
children’s cabins.
“There are a lot of projects going on,”
says Patrick. “The kids are really excited about the camp cabins…because
it will be a lot cooler and they will have
decks where they can sit outside,” he explained. “With all of this work I think it
sends the message that the community
really cares.“
NEW LOG CABIN
One of the largest undertakings for
the club this year is the construction of a
modernized pioneer-style log cabin situated on a beautiful isolated point of the
property. With the site’s existing building now demolished and removed, the
club and several generous sponsors are
working steadily on this project, which
will act as a major source of revenue for
the club when it is rented out as a vacation home.
“This new log cabin is going to be fan-

Photo by Jocelyn Umengan

Cedar logs were removed from Camp Smitty’s 28-acre property by a team of horses. Volunteers worked steadily to peel, measure and cut the
logs. By using horses, the camp was able to minimally impact the forest and only take logs that would be used for the vacation rental home.

Photo by Krista Johnston
Photo by Krista Johnston

This pioneer-style log home is now being
built on the shoreline of Camp Smitty on
Mink Lake. Once complete, the vacation
home will be used to generate annual income for the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa,
who subsidize children from the Ottawa
area who attend their summer camp.
tastic and it will generate revenue that
will all go back to the camp,” Patrick
says. “We’re relying on volunteers, but
the hope is that it will be completed by
this fall. It will take (about) three to four
years to recoup the costs of the log cabin
construction, but from there on in, it’s
money being generated that will help us
subsidize campers and do upkeep on the

Children who attend Camp Smitty this year will see six new sleeper cabins, three in the
girl’s area and three in the boys.
buildings in the coming years.”
Over the course of last winter, white
cedar logs were removed from the camp’s
property by a team of horses with minimal impact to the surrounding forest.
Now, workers from Kealey and Tackaberry Log Homes Ltd. are working to
complete the shell of the log home that
will soon feature radiant-ﬂoor heating, a
stone ﬁreplace (inside and out), granite
countertops, an upstairs loft and wraparound deck.
“The building was grandfathered. You
would never be able to put a cottage that
close to the water anymore,” says Paul

Kealey, whose company is donating the
log home at a 65-per-cent discount. “It’s
going to be a modern focal point of the
camp…that will help them develop as a
club, bring more income in and as a result, bring more opportunities to kids.”
There are many businesses that have
partnered with the Boys and Girls Club
on the log-home project by providing donations and volunteer time. The partners
include Doyle Homes, Deslaurier Kitchens, Marlboro Window and Doors, Astro
Kitchen and Design, Faught Electric
and Zito Plumbing.

15
May 5, 2011 - OTTAWA THIS WEEK - EAST

Sports and Recreation

OTTAWA THIS WEEK - EAST - May 5, 2011

16

Guardsmen girls well ahead of provincial hoops pack
DAN PLOUFFE
The Ottawa Guardsmen Juvenile girls have just one hurdle
left to complete their dominant
20-0 basketball season against
Ontario’s top under-17 teams,
and they’re planning to take
that final step to the top of the
podium at the May 6-8 provincial championships in Kitchener and Waterloo.
“At the beginning of the year, I
knew this was going to be a good
team, but I didn’t know that we
were going to be this good,”
says 14-year-old Team Ontario
member Sarah Shewan, a 6’ 1”
forward who is poised as the
region’s next star. Despite being
the youngest Guardsmen U17
player, she’s already an impact
player. “It’s really been a surprise to me to be on such a great
team, with such a great coach.”
The Guardsmen took gold in
all four of their Ontario Basketball Association tournaments in
Scarborough, Waterloo, Brampton and Hamilton earlier this
year, winning all games except
for two by significant margins,
including one 80-point victory.
“They all work really hard
and what’s really nice about us
is that our first player and our
10th player are all equally as
skilled,” explains coach Laura
Bond, a Nepean High School
and Wilfrid Laurier University
grad. “They really push each
other. Everybody has a partner

Photo by Dan Plouffe

Grade 11 Nepean High School student Heather Lindsay is one of the
‘10-deep’ weapons the Ottawa Guardsmen have employed against
opponents en route to a perfect record leading up to the May 6-8
provincial championships.
in practice that is as good as
them, so every drill is competitive all the time.”
The team also benefits from
the competitive vibe of practicing in the Ravens Nest, frequently under the eye of Carleton University women’s coach
Taffe Charles.
“Here, we have access to the
best coaches in Canada,” adds
Bond, who teaches the Ravens’
systems to the group of poten-

Photos by Michelle Nash

VANIER PLAYS HOST TO BIKER’S SWAP MEET
The Bikers Church in Vanier held a swap meet on April 30 where close
to 2,000 bikers came out to check out some motorcycles, eat a tasty
barbecue, swap some helmets, lights and motorcycle seats. This annual event moved to Vanier this year and as a ‘thank you’ to the neighbourhood, the church offered a free lunch to community members.

tial future recruits. “It’s a really
well organized program.”
It’s not a coincidence the
University of Ottawa-affiliated
Next Level club is one of the few
opponents that have offered the
Guardsmen a tough challenge
this year. In a January tournament, the Guardsmen had to
scrape by Next Level 50-49 in
a nail-biting semi-final before
cruising past Caledon 51-15 in
the championship game.

Next Level also won a tournament in March the Guardsmen didn’t attend, which helped
them earn a No. 3 provincial
ranking behind their top-rated
city rivals.
“I honestly can’t remember
the last time this has happened,”
Bond notes. “I think it’s a testament to the coaching in the area
and the university coaches committing to making club ball a lot
better.”
Set up on opposite sides of
the draw at provincials, there’s
the potential for the two Ottawa
squads to meet in the Ontario
gold medal match.
“We definitely don’t want to
lose to them,” states 6’ 3” Guardsmen centre Heather Lindsay, a
Grade 11 Nepean High School
student. “It would be awful to
lose to another Ottawa team in
the finals for provincials.”
The only other club to give the
Guardsmen trouble this year
was the Toronto Triple Threat.
Down to just seven players due
to injuries in one tournament
final, the Guardsmen needed a
furious eight-point comeback
in the final minute to force overtime, which they went on to win
with a buzzer-beater.
That was the top accomplishment thus far this season, but
maintaining the goose egg in the
loss column adds a little bit of
extra pressure heading into provincials, Bond acknowledges.
“The girls know that they

have a huge target on their
backs,” she notes. “It’s the first
time we’ve been in the position
where we’re the ones everyone’s
gunning for, so we have to make
sure that we’re not getting big
egos and that we’re still thinking about that goal every practice.”
The Guardsmen players don’t
believe overconfidence is an issue because they’ve continued
to push themselves to constantly improve.
“We always go out there and
do our best,” says Shewan, a former Russell Rocket who forms
a powerful partnership with
Stittsville guard Lauren Smail
for the Guardsmen. “And now
we want to finish what we started.”
There will be another Ottawa
team looking to cap a dominant
season on the May 6-8 weekend
in Kitchener and Waterloo during the inaugural U19 Junior
Elite League championship
tournament. The 19-1 Nationals
are the top-ranked team heading into the competition.
This past weekend, 77 teams
from all over Ontario descended
on gyms across the city for the
girls’ U15 Major Midget Ontario
Cup championships. The topranked local team, the Ottawa
Shooting Stars, went 0-3 in Div.
2 play, while Hamilton’s Transway Basketball won the title in
the province’s top division over
the London Ramblers.

MAY 5
This event will be captioned. Ear
Rage - featuring Gael Hannan writer,
actor and public speaker who grew
up with a progressive hearing loss
that is now severe-to-profound. Her
signature solo shows Ear Rage! is a
hilarious and moving performance
that takes an audience into the
heart of one of the fastest growing
health issues in the world today.
May is Hearing Awareness Month.
This Admission Free event will
be of interest to hard of hearing,
late-deafened, and hearing adults;
Youth in high school and university;
Hearing healthcare providers and
students – Audiologists, Hearing
Instrument Specialists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Communication
Disorders Assistants; Service providers in all fields who may have clients
with hearing loss: Teachers, Health
Workers, Government Offices, Banking, and Retail; anyone who wishes
to understand the impact of hearing
loss and to learn strategies for improved communication.

Thursday, May 5, 2011, 7:00 pm;
St. Patrick’s High School, 2525 Alta
Vista Drive, Ottawa. This event is
sponsored by the National Capital
Region Branch of the Canadian Hard
of Hearing Association. For more
information call: Michel David, 613526-1584 or mdavid@chha.ca

MAY 6
Blues in the Pews
Open MIC & coffee house Friday
May 6 from 8:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m. at
St. Margaret’s Church 206 Montreal
Rd More info 613 746-8815. Come &
enjoy an evening of music, entertainment & fun. People wanting to
perform please show up at 7:30 p.m.

MAY 5 TO 8
Ottawa Independent Writers Basic
Training Memoir Writing Weekend. Take part in memoir writing
workshops led by Ottawa author
Emily-Jane Hills Orford who will
explain how to write a compelling
family story or dedicate your time to
writing in the privacy of your room
or on the grounds at the Marguerite
Centre in Pembroke. Cost includes
meals and accommodations. Basic
training in memoir writing: $383.25
for OIW members; $438.25 for nonmembers. Retreat: $283.25 for OIW
members; $338.25 for non-mem-

MAY 7
Rideau River & Overbrook Cleanup Day Saturday, May 7 10:00
a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Meet at Riverside
Memorial Park, corner of Queen
Mary & North River Road at 10 am.
Dress appropriately, coffee and
clean-up materials supplied free. We
hope that all Overbrook residents
will participate and help keep our
neighbourhood beautiful!New Edinburgh park cleanup and plant sale
The Friends of the Park Committee
welcomes all to the Spring Cleanup.
Please being your own bag and
gloves. Participate at your own risk!
The deposit place for garbage bags
is on Stanley Ave. in front of the
fieldhouse. Very informal approach
this year. Just clean the park!
River Cleanup: Saturday May 7 from
10 am - 1 pm. Meet at Stanley Park
Fieldhouse to pick up garbage bags,
equipment and instructions. Refreshments and T-shirts to volunteers.
For more information, contact
Gemma Kerr at newedgem@magma.
ca. Sponsored by NECA, the Urban
Rideau Conservationists and the City
of Ottawa.

Plant Sale: Stock up on your spring
annuals at the Crichton Community
Council’s annual plant sale - from
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturday,
May 7 at the Stanley Park Fieldhouse.
Coro Vivo Ottawa under the direction of Antonio Llaca presents a
benefit concert for CHEO; Hooray
for Hollywood: Greatest hits from
Broadway and Hollywood. Saturday May 7, at 8:00 p.m. École
Gisèle-Lalonde 500 Millennium
Blvd.Orleans. Adults $ 20, free
for children 14 and under. Tickets available at Leading Note, CD
Warehouse, Compact Music or at
the door. Call 613-841-3902 www.
corovivoottawa.ca

MAY 8
Jubilee Garden Annual Spring Cleanup Rockcliffe Park roadways, school
grounds, village green, Sunday May
8 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. At
the Community Hall Choose a street
or area to clean Get garbage bags
and gloves

MAY 10

MAY 14
Assumption Parish Yard Sale Assumption Parish Knights of Columbus will be holding a yard sale on
Saturday May 14 from 8:00 a.m.
to 2:00 pm. Assumption Church is
located at 320 Olmstead St. Vanier
Community Garden is building 11
more plots. If you can give a helping
hand on Saturday May 14 please
contact jardinvaniergarden@gmail.
com.
Overbrook Garage Sale May 14 9:00
a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Come to Riverside
Memorial Park, shop, and enjoy a
BBQ lunch Rent a space at the Park
to sell your stuff Please register
beforehand. Cost is $15 for a 10’x10’
space; you will need to bring your
own table. You can also bring donation items to the Park by 9 am Place
donation items on your driveway by
8 am with a donation sheet attached
Volunteers will pick up items to be
sold at the Park between 8 and 9
am on the day of the sale. All unsold
items will be donated to charity. To
register or find out more information, email Joanne Lockyer at riversidememorialpark@overbrook.ca.

During the weekend of April 23rd, R.W. Tomlinson LTD
became victim of a severe act of vandalism! The criminals
managed to start, disconnect all safety features of an 80’
Manlift to drive itself off the quarry edge falling 60 feet! The
equipment has been damaged beyond repair. Equipment
damage aside, this extreme act could have killed someone.
These individuals have been damaging fences and consuming alcohol on previous occasions. We are offering a
$5000.00 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest
of the individuals involved in this criminal act. As part of
your community we are asking for help.

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and IPC-A-610 required.
Also other job openings available

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Are you looking for a new, fun and
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we are looking for. We are Eastern
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ATV dealer and we are looking for a
Service Advisor for our Ottawa location. This is a full-time position with
great remuneration, benefits and training. Send your resume to:
George’s Marine & Sports
2825 Carp Road,
Ottawa, ON K0A 1L0
Attention: Debbie Schauer, Service Manager
Email: dschauer@gmas.ca

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Annual clean up a way to give back to Mother Nature
MICHELLE NASH
michelle.nash@metroland.com

East end communities will be coming
out on Mother’s Day weekend to clean up
the Rideau River.
This year’s cleanup will take place
along the river on Saturday, May 7. New
Edinburgh will have a station in Stanely
Park and Overbrook will have their station in Riverside Memorial Park. The
other neighbouring communities, who
will participate, such as Manor Park,
Lindenlea and Vanier, will meet at one
of the two stations.
The Urban Rideau Conservationist
has organized the Rideau River cleanup
for the past 10 years. It started with three
east end garbage pickers, Catherine
Canning, her brother Martin Canning
and Gemma Kerr. Catherine decided it
should fall on Mother’s Day weekend every year as a way to give back to Mother
Nature.
“Rivers are like mothers; they recreate,
they transport, they give to us and this is
our way of giving back,” Kerr said.
Since its inception, Catherine has
moved out of Ottawa, but the Urban
Rideau Conservationists continues with
her brother, Kerr and Kerr’s husband,
Jim Watson.
The day’s events will involve the two
community groups offering gloves, garbage pinchers, garbage bags and coffee
for anyone who comes out to pick up gar-

bage.
“The main thing about this day is to
get people and communities out who
have frontage on the river to clean up the
park,” Kerr added.
Overbrook Community Council president Sheila Perry has been organizing
the event for the Overbrook community and although last year’s event was a
rather wet day, she is hopeful this year it
will be a sunny day and the community
will come out to help.
“There will be Tim Hortons coffee for
any volunteers and lots of snacks and of
course lots of garbage bags and gloves,”
Perry said.
Having the communities come together for this event makes organizing efficient and easy, Kerr said.
“This way we have one person going
to the city to ask for gloves and bags and
garbage pinchers,” Kerr said.
Kerr and Perry both agree, being on
the tail end of the Rideau River, they see
a lot of garbage and this clean up is a
good way to kick off spring and get the
river and parks clean for the summer
months.
Much like Perry, Kerr hopes this weekend is much nicer than last year’s.
“I certainly hope we will have a whole
lot better weather than last year and a
lot of community members come out to
help,” Kerr said.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
rain or shine.

Submitted photo

This year marked the fourth time the New Edinburgh and Overbrook communities came
out in May to clean up the capital.

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